Drug smuggler sentenced

(ZIZ News) — The court has sentenced a man from McKnight on drug related charges following a cocaine bust last year.

According to a police statement, on November 14, Bevon Taylor of McKnight and Raphael Chapman and Muraine Matos of Pinney’s Beach, Nevis who are natives of the Dominican Republic were charged for importation and possession of cocaine as well as possession with intent to supply.

Bevon Taylor was found guilty of possession and possession with intent to supply and was fined $100,000.00 or face two years in prison.

The charges against Taylor came following a police operation in November, 2015.

Members of the SSU and anti-narcotic unit were on a routine patrol along the Bay Road in Irishtown near the Garden Housing Project.

The officers saw a blue and white motor vessel bearing the name Pearla Negra very close to the shoreline.

As the officers monitored, a person exited a car that was parked in the area, and someone on the boat threw an orange and white bucket to him..

After catching the bucket, the person ran towards the Garden’s Playing Field area and was pursued by the monitoring officers and caught.

The police searched the bucket and found one kilo of cocaine with a street value of just under ninety thousand dollars.

The fishing vessel Pearla Negra which was used for conveying the drugs was forfeited and ordered to be sold at a specified time and its proceeds be paid into the government treasury.